Away Back Gone

Although the Guardians have done enough in the past two months to hang around the fringes of the American League’s postseason picture thanks to strong performances from players up and down their roster, this season hasn’t been a total victory. In fact, there have been plenty of Guardians players who may have played their way out of the team’s future. With that in mind, here are three Guardians who may not be on the team’s roster at the start  of next season (whenever it is).

Last fall, Andrés Giménez had an eventful postseason in his first season in Toronto. He may not have been the most consistent hitter in Toronto’s lineup (.215 batting average),  but he seemed to be in the middle of everything. He played his customary solid defense, bopped two home runs and even initiated a benches clearing incident in Game 7 of the World Series. Benches clear in #WorldSeries Game 7 after Andrés Giménez is hit by a pitch by Justin Wrobleski in the 4th inning.

In September 2023, Reynaldo López pitched 11 scoreless innings out of the Guardians’ bullpen. It may not have meant much for the Guardians since they ended up finishing the season 11 games out of a postseason spot, that showing helped López earn a three-year, $26 million contract with the Braves so he could be an impact pitcher for them in the postseason. That has yet to happen, and it’s not going to happen any time soon.

At some point on Tuesday night, White Sox outfielder Tommy Pham walked into an elevator with White Sox general manager Chris Getz and successfully convinced him to activate Pham off the injured list. Ironically, the Guardians' win over the White Sox on Wednesday also resembled an elevator ride. It went all the way to the basement when Pham mashed a go-ahead home run against Parker Messick in the fifth inning for his first hit of the season.

Bryan Rocchio may not be the perfect baseball player, but he’s one of the most clutch. That may be enough to save the Guardians’ season. On Tuesday, Rocchio racked up another signature moment with the Guardians thanks to his walk-off double against the Chicago White Sox — his fourth walk-off hit of the year and seventh of his career.

For the better part of the past month, the race for the American League Central has been a two-team race between the Guardians and White Sox. Although there were some brief moments this year where the Twins and Tigers butted their way into the postseason conversation, they never did enough to become a true contender. When it comes to the Tigers, there are two moments that stand out as reasons for that fade. The first came on Aug.

Coming into Monday it seemed like the Guardians had done everything right when it came to their pitching plans. Joey Cantillo did well as a bulk reliever on Saturday and Tanner Bibee pitched a gem on Sunday after having his start moved up. Then Monday’s game happened.

For most of the season, it looked like the Guardians’ $900,000 investment in reliever Connor Brogdon was just going to amount to 15 pitching appearances at the beginning of the season. But that changed last night when Progressive Field’s bullpen door swung open in the ninth inning and Brogdon ran out to eat up the final two innings of the Guardians’ loss to the White Sox.

On Monday, both the Cleveland Guardians and Toronto Blue Jays lost their respective season openers. While the loss meant the Guardians missed an opportunity to gain some ground on the White Sox, the one silver lining came via Toronto's loss that held the Guardians one-game lead in the American League Wild Card race.

Last September, the Cleveland Guardians shifted to a six-man rotation to make room for Joey Cantillo. And Cantillo rewarded that decision with a strong month that helped him win American League Pitcher of the Month. This September has been a much different story. Although Cantillo started the month in the Guardians’ (five-man rotation), he allowed nine runs (four earned) in his first start of the season and didn’t make it out of the third inning in his second.